Abstract

We have analyzed the defect contributions to the in-plane polarization switching of epitaxial (001) thin films on (110) substrates. Interdigitated electrodes were patterned with respect to ferroelectric stripe domains in the film.Polarization measurements exhibited a clear double hysteresis caused by the presence of a static defect field ; the field resulted from ordered defect-dipoles initially aligned to the spontaneous polarization. By monitoring the defect field, both realignment and disassociation of the defect-dipoles were demonstrated. These results establish the arrangement of defect-dipoles in epitaxialferroelectric thin films, guiding technologies and opening an avenue for defect related studies.

Received 16 November 2009Accepted 23 December 2009Published online 02 February 2010

Acknowledgments:

Work was supported by ONR under Grant No. N00014-07-1-0215, the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. ECCS-0708759, and a David & Lucile Packard Fellowship (C.B.E.). Work at the Center for Nanoscale Materials was supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11367. The work at the University of Michigan was supported by the Department of Energy through Grant. No. DE-FG02–07ER46416.